News and Views Issue 4: Spring 2002
The Civil Justice System and the Public – Expanded Research at the Forum
With generous multi-year funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) we have been able to greatly expand our Civil Justice system and the Public research project. Originally expected to be confined to Alberta, the study is now nation-wide.
The goal of this research is to advance important recommendations of the Canadian Bar Association Systems of Civil Justice Task Force Report. Our research is concerned with increasing the participation of the public in civil justice system reform efforts by developing effective two-way communication between the courts and the public. Our project has three components: one is to study the existing state of communication between those working within the civil justice system and members of the public involved in a civil court case; another is to actively involve a broad range of people (professionals and lay persons) in identifying communication practices that can bring about change and improvement within the system. Finally, we will implement demonstration projects to test and evaluate effective models of communication and make concrete recommendations for improvements that will ultimately enhance both the operation of, and meaningful public access to, the civil justice system.
In order to achieve our goals we will need, at every stage of the project, the active participation of all groups of people within the civil justice system, as well as the public. We will be contacting members of the judiciary, lawyers, court administrators, and many other justice system workers to ask for your support and input in identifying best practices for communicating with the public and involving them in implementing needed changes to the system.
 In
September 2001, Mary Stratton joined the Forum team as project Research Coordinator.
Mary is completing the final stages of a Doctorate in sociology, and has interdisciplinary
training in human and community development. She has specialised in involving
community partners in the design of research approaches that value the pre-existing
knowledge and expertise of community members who will be affected by the study
results and recommendations. She also has experience working within institutional
settings which will be helpful in studying the civil justice system. |
A detailed research plan is now in place and research interview guides have
been developed for pilot testing. During March 2002 we asked our research partners
across Canada to review our interview questions and simultaneously we conducted
pilot interviews in the Edmonton area. Once feedback from the pilot testing has
been incorporated, we will commence the Alberta field research. We anticipate
moving to the national phase of the project in the Fall of 2002. For more details
about the research project and methodology we invite you to contact Mary by e-mail
at mstratto@law.ualberta.ca, or
by telephone at (780) 492-9426.